Usually when I am at my dentist, the esteemed Dr. Anita Fok (and no the name is not a joke), I don her Risky Business sunglasses with pleasure, try to be friendly to the hygienists which is somewhat difficult when speaking through gauze, plastic, and drool, and more importantly, try to make my mind transport itself to a happier place and time. So far, this is as close to Time Travel as I have ever gotten and it is usually back to the past.

I try to zap myself to lands far, far away....perhaps a beach in Thailand or nothing more exotic than a friend's party. Since I don't know where any wormholes are located, this is more difficult than it may seen. I was happy to discover, however, that others are taking the same route as I am, and doing it better, by delving not only into the past, but into the future as well.

"Research carried out in recent years has shown that imagining future events and recalling those that we have already experienced are dependent on the same core network of brain regions. It seems that both involve the same cognitive processes - when we look forward to something that might happen in the future, the brain generates a simulation of that event using fragments of memories of past events."

Basically, the neuroscientist is highlighting a study by Donna Rose Addis coming out in September that has focused on the brain's pattern of imaging, with the conclusion that as we recall past events and image the future, we are using the same neural substrates. (Neural substrates are the brain structures.)

To me, this suggests ideas of the visualization techniques found in New Age books, and more lately, "The Secret", which offers a glimpse into the power of the mind's ability to create and re-enhance what it is looking for. I'm not saying I believe in the hocus-pocus of the visualization techniques, but if I did, this study is suggesting that imagining the future based on the past is no more difficult than remembering past events.

I am no brain scientist, and the dentist's chair in which I sit is not equipped for serious Time Travel (at least that I am aware of, you never know when you may find an elusive wormhole....), but the next time I take a seat to get my mouth poked, prodded, and probed, I will be not only only trying to put myself in the past, but imagining a life in the future; specifically, a life in which I have perfect teeth and have no need for dentist's chair.....

http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2009/06/mental_time_travel.php